Violent protests broke out in the Irish capital Dublin on Thursday evening after a man with a knife injured a woman and three children in the middle of the street in the afternoon, according to reports local media. According to unconfirmed rumors, the man who was arrested has a migration background. Nothing is known about his motivation. News agency AFP reports that demonstrators carried signs with slogans such as ‘Irish Lives Matter‘. Dublin police warn against disinformation and say the riots are being driven by a “completely insane group of hooligans driven by far-right ideology.”
According to police, the stabbing was an “isolated incident that is not necessarily connected to other problems in the country or the city.” There is therefore no reason to assume that the violence was political or terrorist in nature. Yet the angry crowd is wreaking havoc in central Dublin. Protesters shot fireworks at police officers and attacked troops from the Irish Mobile Unit. Police vehicles, a tram and a bus were also damaged. Images show, among other things, how a police car goes up in flames.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said, according to the AP news agency: “We cannot and will not tolerate the scenes we see this evening in our city centre.” According to her, the demonstrators are using the stabbing “to cause destruction.” The clashes between police and rioters appear to be concentrated around expensive shopping streets in north Dublin. It is unclear whether looting is also taking place.
One of the children, a six-year-old girl, is being treated in hospital for serious injuries. The woman, who is around thirty, is also being treated. The other two children suffered minor injuries, one of them has since left the hospital.
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